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Langdon and 6-year-old Que left Kawhia Harbour in Waikato on December 17 and were not seen or heard from until Wednesday when a local in the fishing town of Ulladulla reported seeing them to Australian authorities.

Langdon denied he'd intended to sail to Queensland to live "off-grid". He said he had planned to sail to the Bay of Islands, but he was forced to change course when a rudder broke.

Que sat and fidgeted on Langdon's lap as they talked to the Milton Ulladulla Times.

"When we were coming out of New Zealand there were big waves there too."

Langdon recounted meeting pirates on the South China sea on a previous voyage. They had asked him if he had any alcohol or tobacco, "so I lied and said no". He said he had heard of other ships being boarded and "meeting violence".

"It is dangerous on the water and that's the people you encounter there. Not so much pirates."

Que was born in Palau and was quickly getting her sea legs as a newborn. Early on in her life she experienced a 56-day stint at sea. That was just one of the long trips Que went on, Langdon said.

"I can't remember how long they were.

"I got better at sailing so the trips got quicker.

"I was quite impressed with how fast it took us to get to Australia when I decided this would be the best place to come. Well, it's going to be the safest and easiest."

Langdon said he only decided to make the dash for Australian on January 1 when they were around half-way to Australia anyway.